To facilitate the delivery of genetic material, the use of appropriate carriers such as polymers is necessary. Na-noparticles comprising of chitosan-alginate polymers were formed through pregel preparation method. Chi/Alg nanoparticles had a mean Z-Average diameter of 161.8 nm and mean zeta 29.3 mV, respectively. The ability of plasmid-complex in preventing DNA migration showed Chi/Alg nanoparticles have great capacity to maintain plasmid. The efficiency of nanoparticles for transfection of pEGFP-N1 plasmid in the cultured HEK 293 cells was measured by flow cytometry. Cell viability assays indicated that nano-particles had no toxic effect on HEK 293 cells after 4 or 24 h. Our suitable candidate for gene delivery would be Alg/Chi nanoparticles.
Keywords: chitosan, alginate, nanoparticle, size, transfection efficiency, cytotoxicity
